Carnesville Shooting Victim Had Ties to YouTube Gun Show

The investigation into the death of the owner of a gun parts company outside of Carnesville continues.

On Tuesday, GBI Agent in charge told WLHR News they are continuing to treat the case as a homicide but he said they have no new details to report in the case.

Last Thursday, 32-year old Keith Ratliff was found dead on his property off Hayes Road and Highway 320 in Carnesville.

Ratliff died of a single gunshot wound to the head, according to Franklin County Sheriff Stevie Thomas. Sheriff Thomas said Ratliff was found by his deputies last Thursday after responding to a 911 call.

“When my investigators arrived, they found a white male who was not breathing. EMT’s determined the victim was DOA,” Thomas said.

Ratliff’s body was sent to the GBI Crime Lab in Atlanta for autopsy. Thomas said Ratliff was found inside his FPS Industries business and there were multiple firearms inside. He would not say if the weapon relating to the homicide was recovered.

On Wednesday, Thomas said investigators are still conducting interviews, but would not say if they have any suspects.

In July, Ratliff received a zoning approval from Franklin County to open a new business called, FPS Industries Global LLC.

According to the company’s Web site, FPS Industries touted itself as the “world leaders in product development and testing for hard use firearms shooters.”

Ratliff’s business partner was Kyle Lamar Myers, the owner of the YouTube Web show FPSRussia, a show based in the Franklin County area, which video tapes the use of military weapons from around the world.

The show has some 500 million viewers and three million subscribers.

On his Facebook page, Myers said he has lost a close friend in Ratliff and asked that the public respect the Ratliff family’s privacy.

Ratliff’s wife, Amanda, told an Atlanta TV station her husband was a good man with a full life to live and she doesn’t know who would want to kill him.

Ratliff, who was originally from Frankfort, Kentucky, leaves behind his wife and a 2-year old son.